the thin chef

This is a multipurpose cake—one you can make for guests, or one you can throw together on a weeknight when you just want dessert. It comes together superfast…really, almost as quickly as a boxed mix. I’ve had a version of this cake made with a boxed devil’s food mix, chocolate pudding mix, and sour cream, and honestly, the from-scratch is better. And I’m willing to bet that the only thing you might need to buy for this is a carton of buttermilk (and maybe some mini chocolate chips).

Dense, moist, and absolutely delicious, this is an impressive yet everyday kind of treat.

Double-Chocolate Bundt Cake
Recipe from Oxmoor House

Baking spray with flour
1 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
1  cup granulated sugar
3/4  cup Dutch process cocoa (Katie note: my grocery only has Hershey’s Special Dark, which is what I used)
1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2  teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini-chips
1 tablespoon sifted powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Heavily coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with baking spray; set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs and next 5 ingredients with a mixer at medium speed 1 minute or until just combined. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; beat at high speed 1 minute. Stir in chocolate mini-chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack. Remove cake from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar.

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photo from Food52.com

I got some fantastic news today: My cauliflower recipe was chosen as a finalist on Food52.com. Are you familiar with the site? It’s a wonderful community of home cooks, sharing recipes, as well as insightful articles, tips, and inspiration.

They spotlighted my blog a while ago, which was so very lovely. And today, I found out I’m a finalist for the cookbook. Cue the happy dance. Amanda Hesser, one of the finalists, wrote Cooking for Mr. Latte (which I actually just referenced here last week). When I read that book, it stoked the little foodie fire in me and encouraged it to become a full blown passion. Amanda has always been a huge influence on me, and someone who I often look to for inspiration. So seeing pictures of her cooking a recipe I made, and reading the words that she and Food52 cofounder Merrill Stubbs wrote about it…well, to say it made my day is an understatement.

If you feel so inclined, try the recipe (if you haven’t already) and lend me your vote. If my recipe “wins,” it gets a spot in the second Food52 cookbook, which is published and bound—a real book! But regardless, make sure to take a look around Food52 and see for yourself what a fabulous community it is.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a tasty Thai-inspired recipe!

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I thought I’d give you a little peek into my kitchen cabinets so you can see what I’m working with, so to speak. We don’t have an official pantry/closet, but we do have three almost floor-to-ceiling cabinets that act as the pantry, but is also home to kitchen tools, baking dishes, etc. I try to be pretty organized since I’m in the kitchen a lot, but squeezing things onto fairly small shelves can be a challenge. So I try to divide those shelves into categories…and it works, for the most part. (I have to de-clutter at least once a week!)

The first picture (above) is the grains shelf. Quinoa, barley, lentils, grits, brown rice, sushi rice, arborio rice, popcorn, split peas…if it’s dried and has a long shelf life, it lives up here. Those little bags from the bulk bin can get messy really fast, so I’ve collected jars from various sources including IKEA, Target, as well as from olives, spaghetti sauce, and the like.

Next up is the canned food/pasta shelf. I have a thing for pasta (yes, I know, you already know this) so I keep a lot of it on hand, including soba noodles. There’s also my favorite Trader Joe’s lentils and two kinds of beans in sauce from TJ’s. As far as canned goods go, I think the best to have on hand are beans. They’re cheap (even the organic ones) and SO easy to throw into dishes for extra protein and fiber. Canned soup isn’t always on hand, but it does make an easy meal when you feel like pouting and throwing your original lunch in the garbage. I usually have sardines on hand, and while they aren’t exactly a popular pantry staple, they are also a great go-to for a quick lunch, on Wasa crackers or buttered toast. (If you like canned tunafish, I can almost guarantee you’d like sardines!)

Because I often test recipes for cookbooks and things, I’ve acquired quite a collection of both baking supplies and spices—even though I’m really not much of a baker. We’ll get to the spices in a bit, but here’s a look at the baking shelf. I often pare it down when it gets messy in there. AP flour and white sugar live in canisters on the countertop, and whole wheat flour, cake flour, bread flour, and semolina flour live in a cabinet above everything else. (It was too dark to photograph.)

Here’s our snack/cereal shelf. We’re big fans of both Kashi and Cascadian Farm cereals, as well as Pirate’s Booty and Publix brand organic blue chips. Those four things are almost always in our pantry. (There’s another huge bag of Booty and 2 more boxes of Kashi tucked in a lower cabinet!)

Jason’s mom loves to bring us nuts when she comes to visit. Which is good because we always have a varied supply on hand, from shel-on almonds to spicy pistachios. I like to eat steel cut oats and bake with the rolled ones. Oh, I keep my dried seaweed on the shelf with the nuts, too. Doesn’t everyone?

Tea and my little Keurig coffee cups get stashed on this little skinny shelf.

Finally, we have this great lazy-susan-type thing inside the cabinet next to the stove, which is where I keep my ridiculous collection of spices. I have the typical—chili powder, Old Bay, Season-All—and the not-so typical, including powdered saffron (the gold powder in the bag); smoked salt, black salt, and pink salt; whole green peppercorns; and aleppo pepper. And seemingly everything in between!

In my opinion, a well-stocked pantry includes not only things that make fast dinners easy on you, but also the things you use on a regular basis. Chicken or vegetable stock, sure…but if you love hearts of palm or ketchup, you should always have those things on hand. Sugar, flour, and butter can turn into many different desserts with add-ins. Pasta, the ultimate go-to, should be on hand at all times (unless you’re gluten-free, I suppose…). Invest in a good variety of spices, but use them or toss them within 1 year. And try to splurge when you can on little luxury things that just make you want to get in the kitchen and cook, like truffle salt, toasted walnut oil, or really good dark chocolate. (Well, the chocolate’s just for eating.)

What are some pantry items you always have on hand?

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I had such grand plans to share a tasty autumn pizza recipe with you today. It was to be our lunch today. I had visions of its perfect golden crust, tender Yukon gold potato slices, and tiny orange jewels of butternut squash. I could taste the nutty olive oil, woodsy rosemary, and piquant garlic. But guess what? It didn’t happen.

First, I started out with refrigerated pizza dough, trying to take a shortcut. That was a dumb idea. It got stuck to itself, ripped in half, and when I tried to roll it out to a normal thickness and shape, it seized up and got grainy and weird. Into the trash it went.

Frustrated but not defeated, I made a quick thin-crust dough with flour, water, and yeast. It was a beautiful, tender, and soft dough. It rolled out with ease. Aha, I thought. I win. Because I had sliced the potatoes 30 minutes before, they were starting to turn grayish-brown. Unfazed, I forged on, placing just a single layer of the (not-so-pretty) paper-thin potato slices on top of the dough, and topped it with the squash.

The pizza was perched on our trusty peel with lots of flour and coarse cornmeal underneath for extra stickage protection. But, when I tried to slide the pizza onto the stone, it. wouldn’t. budge. It was stuck. So stuck that when I tried to scrape it onto the stone, it ripped in half, and toppings started flipping into the hot oven and smoking.

I was frustrated, but I didn’t want to throw in the towel. So I folded the whole thing up and over itself, and tried to make it into a calzone. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would still be edible. But again, the stubborn dough stuck to everything, including my hands and the spatula. So I wadded it up and tossed it in the trash. Akin to throwing a temper tantrum, I felt somehow better—and then worse—as I chucked the unforgiving, sticky mess into the garbage can.

So, that is my story of how I do not always win in the kitchen.

And for lunch? We had canned soup.

What about you? Have you had any frustrating failures in the kitchen?

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This chili, a recipe from Tyler Florence, is unlike any other chili I’ve had before. The spices are pretty typical, for the most part, but the texture is totally different. Instead of using ground beef, this chili uses beef shoulder that braises for 2-plus hours until it’s falling-apart tender. Then you mash it up until the pot is full of tender shreds of beef coated in richly spiced sauce. If it’s possible, this chili is even heartier than the usual ground-beef version.

I made a few adjustments for what I had on hand, which I’ll note in the recipe. Otherwise, I followed Tyler’s words to a T. This was a big hit at our football party yesterday, and is even better the next day. (How do I know, you ask? I ate it for breakfast. No big deal.)

Not Your Average Beef Chili
very loosely adapted from Tyler Florence
serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds beef shoulder, cut into large cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons good-quality chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon hot paprika
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 small/medium onions, diced
10 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
Garnish: sour cream, pickled jalapenos, and shredded cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef shoulder all over with salt and pepper. Add to the pot and brown it. As it’s browning, stir in the chili powder; cumin; coriander; regular, hot and smoked paprikas; oregano; and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Lower the temperature to medium. Place the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and tomato paste in a food processor, and puree. Add puree to the pot. Stir to combine, and cook for 3 minutes or so, stirring often to keep mixture from scorching.

Add enough water to cover by 1 inch, and add tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a boil, skimming off the foam that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the meat is completely tender and comes apart with no resistance, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. As it cooks down, add more water to keep the consistency loose but not soupy. Use a potato masher and mash the beef so it comes apart in shreds. Taste, and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with cheese, sour cream, and pickled jalapenos.

*Post Script

Making in a Slow Cooker
My friend Lainie asked in the comments whether this could be done with a slow cooker, and I think it could. I’d probably brown the meat first in a large skillet, for the added flavor. But if you don’t have time, it would still be fine. If you did brown the meat first, add the spices to the skillet to toast them. If not, then add the spices to the food processor with the onion mixture.

Place the meat (browned or not) in the slow cooker, and add the pureed onion mixture, tomatoes, and enough water to cover by about 1 inch. Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the beef falls apart when mashed. Uncover for the last 1/2 hour or so to thicken it up just a bit. Mash, and serve!

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Today we had the chance to visit Eatonville, one of the very first all-black towns formed after the Emancipation Proclamation in the late 1800s. Situated between the cities of Winter Park and Maitland, Eatonville is a small but thriving community just bursting with history. You may have heard of their most celebrated former citizen, Zora Neale Hurston, an author whose most lauded novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is on many middle- and high-school reading lists.

Anyway, we took a guided walking tour through some of the town’s most historic areas, and then we had lunch—fire-grilled BBQ chicken, baked beans, cornbread, lemonade, and apple pie. It was all lovingly made from scratch by a few 90-plus-year-old Eatonville residents, and it was simple and delicious.

Eatonville—with its soul-food joints, barber shops, churches, and vibrant, friendly community members—is something of a community treasure. We came for the food, but left with an interesting history lesson, and I’m so glad we got to visit. And we’ll definitely be back for some hot fish and grits…

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You already know my love of pasta. It’s comfort in a bowl. I love short cuts, long strands, sheets of lasagna, and especially wide, slurpy papardelle. The name of the noodles derives from the verb “pappare,” to gobble up—which is what I do when I see a bowlful of this pasta.

I have an unabashed love of Trader Joe’s, and I stock up whenever we’re in a city that has one. My friend Sarah turned me on to their spinach and chive pasta, which I get every time. And last trip, I also grabbed a bag of lemon-pepper papardelle. Lemon, and pepper, and my favorite pasta? Yes, please.

I was waiting to cook the pasta until I could think of a sauce or preparation that would let the flavor of the noodles shine through, but also compliment them. I picked up bags of organic, locally grown arugula and watercress at the co-op last week, and I was reminded of a recipe from one of my favorite books, Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser. It involves pasta, lemon zest, creme fraiche, and arugula, and it’s fabulous. This is my take on it.

Pasta with Greens and Lemon-Butter Sauce
serves 4

1 pound long pasta, such as papardelle, linguine or fettucine
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 tablespoons unsalted, room-temperature butter
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 large handfuls arugula
1 large handful watercress, thick or tough stems removed and discarded
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Cook pasta per package directions. Just before pasta is done, ladle out about 1 cup of the cooking water, and set aside. As the pasta cooks, combine the lemon zest and butter in a small bowl, mashing and stirring to combine. Drain pasta, and place in a large bowl. (I like to warm the bowl with very hot tap water so it doesn’t cool the pasta.)

Add butter-zest mixture, lemon juice, and olive oil. Use tongs or two large forks to toss the pasta together until it’s coated in the butter, oil, and lemon juice. Add greens, 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, and salt and pepper to taste. (Need guidance? Start with about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and go from there.) Toss again until the greens are wilted and the pasta is coated in “sauce.” Add more pasta water, if needed, to keep the pasta slicked but not wet. Serve immediately.

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This is the second post this week about a favorite, go-to snack that tastes even better when you make it from scratch. Why go through the trouble, you might ask, when you can easily grab a box of crackers at the grocery store and call it a day? Well, for one, these taste better. (And I am a huge fan of the non-homemade kind. I once, regrettably, ate an entire box in one sitting, and was very ill as a result.) Second, you know exactly what’s going in them, and there are only a handful of ingredients, instead of odd-sounding preservatives and trans fats. You can use organic ingredients, if you’d like, and local butter and cheese, if you’re fortunate enough to have access to them.

It takes 30 seconds to throw this dough together in the food processor and about 4 minutes to roll and cut the crackers. They bake for less than 30 minutes, and you can clean the whole kitchen and start a load of laundry in that time, so really, it doesn’t count.

Now tell me that’s not faster than a trip to Publix. That’s what I thought.

Homemade Cheez-It Crackers
makes about 40 crackers
Adapted from this Country Living recipe

1 cup all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 (7-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, but recommended)
5 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour, butter, cheese, salt, and cayenne in the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Pulse in water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. (You may not use all the water.)

Wrap dough in plastic wrap, press into a disc, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick silicone mats. Set aside.

Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper. (It’s sticky!) Roll to 1/8-inch thickness. Carefully flip dough in parchment over, and gently peel off the top layer. Using a pizza cutter, trim dough into a rectangle, then cut into 2-inch squares. Carefully transfer squares onto baking sheets, using a spatula if needed.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until crackers are just slightly turning light brown, and are crisp. Quickly cool and taste one for crispness. If they are not crisp, bake just a few minutes longer. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (if they last that long!). If crackers are soggy after storing, re-crisp them in a preheated 400º oven for 3 to 5 minutes.

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It’s been cooler—and far, far drier—here in central Florida than it usually is in October, which is a welcome and unexpected break from the heat and humidity of summertime. It actually feels like fall, and that’s pretty unusual for early October.

The last three years, we lived in Birmingham, Alabama, which (among its other delightful aspects) actually has four—count ‘em, four—distinct seasons, something we just don’t get in central Florida. So I was, let’s say, a little wistful on the first day of fall, knowing I was back in the two-seasons-at-best Sunshine state. But then…oh, then…the air dried out, the temperatures dropped to a chilly 75 degrees, and we had fall.

So, what do I do in response? I make apple crisp. I had planned to make apple brown betty, but I decided that the chunkier texture from a crisp or crumble is really what I wanted. I am not really a dessert person, and I am certainly not a baker. But I love a fruit crisp. This, really, is what autumn is all about, no? Eating warming, seasonal foods that remind us that the seasons (like life) are always in motion, are always changing, and are something to be celebrated.

Classic Apple Crisp
serves 4 to 6
My version is light on the sweetness, so adjust the sugar accordingly if you know you like your desserts super sweet. If you don’t have pure maple syrup on hand, please do not use pancake syrup. Substitute with brown sugar (and go buy some pure maple syrup!). Whole wheat flour adds an extra hint of heartiness, but if all-purpose is all you have, by all means, use that. Finally, you can easily double this recipe using a 9×13-inch baking dish.

4 small gala apples
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, depending on the sweetness of your apples
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons room-temperature butter

Preheat oven to 350º.

Peel apples; slice the “cheeks” off of the cores, and discard cores. Slice apples into 1/4-inch slices, place in an 8×6-inch (or similar) baking dish, and toss with lemon juice and maple syrup. Taste a slice, and see if it tastes sweet enough; if not, add a bit more maple syrup. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work in the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand, and it sticks together in clumps. Taste, and add more sugar if you think it should be sweeter.

Pour topping over apples in the baking dish. Bake for 22 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and apples are just tender. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream for extra oohs and aahs.

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